Factors of Ukrainian men involving in men’s movements that support gender equality

In recent years, Ukraine has received more attention to the issues of masculinity, the position of men and their participation in activism in support of gender equality. In Ukraine, there are several men’s organizations and initiatives that support the ideas of gender equality: dad schools, men against violence, HeforShe Ukraine and HeforShe Congresses, profeminist schools for men, national networks of male leaders against violence, an international union of courageous dads, etc. Feminist public activists appear to talk about the benefits of gender equality. The men’s movement for gender equality in the world and in Ukraine is seen as focusing on either women’s rights or men’s rights. According to men’s movement researcher Michael Messner, institutional privileges and costs of masculinity are the aspects of the classification of male movements. As a result of the analysis of six in-depth interviews with Ukrainian activists of men’s movements, Michael Messner’s ideas were illustrated with examples from Ukrainian society. Factors involving men in men’s movements for gender equality differ depending on the type of the men’s movement. Women’s rights movements were characterized by awareness of cases of discrimination against women and a corresponding sense of solidarity and compassion. Movements for men’s rights – by awareness of cases of discrimination against men in their own experience, a sense of the need to respond to the movement for women’s rights, and the situation of men’s movements in Ukraine, i.e. factors that directly affect men. In addition, it has been found that there are common factors in involving men in women’s and men’s rights movements, such as the existence of a feminist movement, a sense of the need for change, and a desire to be involved in local or global change. Expert interviews have found that the use of personal experience is the most effective way to influence the level of men’s involvement in men’s movements for gender equality, including in Ukraine. Attention to real cases of gender discrimination against women will be perceived more sincerely and openly than statistics. Attention to real cases of gender discrimination against women will be perceived more sincerely and openly than statistics. In addition, it is important to demonstrate the experience of men who understand the benefits of gender equality for men as well. They, according to experts, will be able to serve as examples for other men to follow. Separately, experts noted the role of education in the desire to join the struggle of men for the idea of gender equality. Both non-formal education programs and formal education on equal rights and opportunities can be tools for introducing changes in men’s attitudes to discrimination.

Men’s Healing Work: Reconciling Intergenerational Ambivalence Through Fatherhood, Letter Writing, and Community

Due to globalization, new ideals of fatherhood are challenging traditional paternal roles in South Korea. Contemporary fathers striving to emulate more engaged parenting sometimes wrestle with painful recollections of their own fathers’ stern, distant, and patriarchal approach. How do men reconcile their aspirations for their own development as parents when conflicted relationships with their fathers? Motivated by the concept of intergenerational ambivalence, this study analyzes letters South Korean men write to their fathers as assigned homework for Father School, an international men’s movement that aims to make men more nurturing. Under Father School direction, men adopt a life course frame that allows them to reconcile their mixed feelings toward their aging fathers. Analysis points to three life course discursive strategies that permit men to balance negative judgments with positive ones: 1) sharing with their parent the life stage as worker and father; 2) appreciating historically-situated differences between twentieth and twenty-first century lives and parenting imperatives; and, 3) drawing on deeply rooted filial norms to take responsibility for their own role in intergenerational conflicts. In addressing how these men manage intergenerational ambivalence, the article moves beyond prior research to extend the concept to father-son dyads, the Asian context, and the neglected meso-level where organizations may actively structure reconciliation.

Muscular Christianity in contemporary South Africa: The case of the Mighty Men Conference

Drawing on key aspects of Muscular Christianity identified through this movement’s literature, this article ventures that the major contemporary Evangelical Christian men’s movement in South Africa, the Mighty Men Conference (MMC), draws on and harkens back to the concerns of the Victorian era of Muscular Christianity. Moreover, the article argues that this reversion should be of concern in the context of a post-apartheid and postcolonial South Africa where both women’s rights and human rights (especially encompassing racial equality) now form the core of the country’s identity. In other words, the MMC’s call to men to reclaim their top position is problematic even while it comes from a place of concern regarding the changing role of men in a transitional South African landscape.

Masculinity and the social violence against women

Men’s violence against women and persons of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) identity is a phenomenon that is rarely discussed in the mainstream media except in its Most horrendous and sensational forms. Even rarer is a discussion of a culture of mascul- inity in U.S. society for example that condones and in large part perpetuates men’s violence against women and LGBT persons. In the media, men’s violence is invisible or assumed as “natural” and thus inevitable. While the media’s debate on masculinities and violence has been relatively silent or superficial, the scholarly debate on men’s violence is vibrant, and a growing men’s movement is challenging misogynistic discourses and violent aspects of masculine cultures.